Thursday, September 15, 2016

The Archbishop of Wales has argued that taking the Bible seriously
can lead to supporting same-sex marriage as he defended his acceptance
of LGBT relationships.

Dr Barry Morgan, who will retire in January, used his last address to
the governing body of the Church in Wales on Wednesday to deliver a
parting shot to conservative critics who said he had been "swayed by the
liberal culture of our age" and "ignored Holy Scripture".

He argued the Bible had more than one view on LGBT relationships as
the authors' stances evolved. He said it was necessary to look at the
texts as a whole, and especially at the ministry of Jesus, to understand
God's will.

"Taking the Bible as a whole and taking what it says very seriously
may lead us into a very different view of same-sex relationships than
the one traditionally upheld by the Church," he said.

Although a majority in the Church in Wales' governing synod voted for change in September 2015, the Church said it
was "not yet ready to allow or bless same-sex marriages" because the
level of support did not reach the two-thirds majority needed to change
Church law. But a statement added that "the debate is not over" and the
Welsh bishops vowed to "work for a Church in which you can be fully
affirmed as equal disciples of Jesus Christ or seekers after truth".

In a pastoral letter issued after 18 months of consultations across the Church, the bishops told gay couples: "We will pray with you and for you, that together we may seek God's blessing on our lives, and for faithful discipleship."

Dr Morgan, who has spearheaded the drive for change, compared those
who interpreted the Bible as being against same-sex marriage with those
who used the Bible to justify slavery. He argued that as opinions within
the Church changed over slavery, so they may over same-sex
relationships.

"What all this amounts to is that one cannot argue that there is one
accepted traditional way of interpreting Scripture that is true and
orthodox and all else is modern revisionism, culturally conditioned.
Scripture itself is diverse and theological views held in some biblical
books are reshaped in the light of experience by other writers," he told
the governing body on Wednesday.

"Given that each of the passages purported to be about homosexuality
can be interpreted in more than one way, we come to the fundamental
question as to whether taking the Bible as a whole, we can come to the
same conclusions about committed, faithful, loving, same-sex
relationships as we did about slavery.

"We are not thereby abandoning the Bible but trying to interpret it
in a way that is consistent with the main thrust of the ministry of
Jesus, who went out of His way to minister to those who were excluded,
marginalised, and abandoned by His society because they were regarded as
impure and unholy by the religious leaders of His day, either because
of their gender, age, morality or sexuality. Taking Holy Scripture
seriously means paying attention to Jesus' ministry of inclusivity."

The Archbishop concluded his address by quoting from Amazing Love,
a book that urged Christians to embrace LGBT relationships. He said
people flourish in committed relationships with one other person. "Those
of us who were or are married have found that to be the case," he said.
"Why would we want to deny such a possibility for those who are
attracted to their own gender?"

The address is likely to enrage conservative Anglicans who see
Biblical opposition as the key argument against accepting same-sex
marriage.

He said: "Very many scholars of the Bible, including those who do not
agree with the Church's traditional teaching on sexuality, would be
astonished by his statement that 'the Bible has more than one view on
homosexuality'. The few texts that are directly relevant are uniformly
negative.

"The fact that these verses 'can be interpreted in different ways'
demonstrates nothing; every verse in the Bible can be interpreted in
different ways – the question is whether such interpretations stand up
to scrutiny."

He went on to say the comparison with slavery was "odd". He accused
Morgan of "offering precisely the kind of misreading that he is
protesting that he is not".

Paul added: "Taking the Bible 'seriously' is fairly meaningless unless we explain what we are taking it 'seriously' to be."